Business Directories

GCC nations among top 30 for network readiness

Manama, April 24, 2014

Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain have been ranked in the top 30 for the third consecutive year in an annual global technology survey for network readiness index 2014.

Qatar is ranked at number 23, followed by the UAE at 24, while Bahrain claims the 29th place, according to a report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. Saudi Arabia and Oman stood at 32nd and 40th position respectively.

Insead, the leading international business school, in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, released the findings of its latest annual technology survey, "The Global Information Technology Report (GITR) 2014: Rewards and Risks of Big Data."

The survey pointed out that these countries have demonstrated continued effort to improve ICT uptake and better integrate ICTs in more robust innovation ecosystems in order to obtain higher returns.

"As in previous years, the Mena region depicts a highly diversified outlook in terms of the capacity of countries to leverage ICTs to boost competitiveness and well-being. Qatar remains stable at 23 while the UAE moved up one rank reaching 24, Bahrain also remains stable at 29, Saudi Arabia moves one down to 32, Oman remains stable at 40 and Jordan moves up three at 44," said GITR co-author and executive director of Insead's European Competitiveness Initiative Bruno Lanvin.

Bahrain remains stable at 29th place and continues to depict a strong performance. Most notably, Bahrain ranks in the top five on one sub-pillar - government usage (5).

"Although Bahrain's ICT infrastructure, especially in terms of international bandwidth, may not be as well developed as in other countries, it is less costly to access and uptake by individuals is one of the highest in the world, with a very high number of users," said Decision Sciences associate professor Miguel Lobo, director of the Abu Dhabi campus.

"The number of households with a personal computer is similar to that of the leading Nordic countries. The government has a strong vision to develop the sector and offers a wide range of services online."

Meanwhile, this year's findings indicate consistency among the top of the rankings: Finland (1), Singapore (2), Sweden (3), The Netherlands (4), Norway (5) and Switzerland (6) all retained their positions from the previous year.

The US moved up two places to seventh position, while Hong Kong (8) and South Korea (10) both move into the top 10. The UK, meanwhile, is the only nation in the top ranks to fall, sliding from seven to nine in the survey. – TradeArabia News Service